Traumatic spinal cord injury and psychological impact: a cross-sectional analysis of coping strategies

Many studies have suggested a relationship between coping strategies used to deal with stressors and levels of psychological well-being. To explore this further the current study examined such relationships in people who have sustained a spinal cord injury. Measures of psychological impact and coping strategies were taken from those in their sixth week post-injury (N = 41) and those between four and seven years post-injury (N = 30). The results were analysed using stepwise multiple regression. This provided a number of models containing coping strategies that accounted for a certain proportion of the variance in each of the psychological impact variables. While the results help to identify specific coping strategies associated with better adjustment, they also highlight the need to adopt a longitudinal approach in the investigation of psychological responses to spinal cord injury.